The Mets finished the 2018 season on September 30 with a 1-0 victory against the Miami Marlins. David Wright did not play in the game, pulling the curtain closed not only on a disappointing season, but also on the end of his storied career.
Over the next month or so, The Captain was one of more than 20 players whose time with the Mets came to an end. Three of those players – Jose Reyes, Austin Jackson and Devin Mesoraco – were on the active roster with Wright on that Sunday afternoon.
This purge happened largely before Brodie Van Wagenen was tabbed to be the Mets general manager in late October. Once BVW came on board, he went to work in earnest to reshape the Mets roster.
A quiet November gave way to a three-month makeover, one that continued through Spring Training and resulted in a team that would compete for a National League crown – at least in the eyes of the new general manager.
There’s no need to recount each of the trades and the free agent signings again – that’s been done to death by now. You know who the Mets retained and who they released, who they traded for and who they traded away.
One of the returners was Mickey Callaway, the first-year manager who did little to distinguish himself in 2018. BVW even addressed that deficit, replacing bench coach Gary DiSarcina with Jim Riggelman. The new man was a baseball lifer knowledgeable enough to improve Callaway’s in-game machinations, but not sexy enough to be perceived as a real threat to a young manager in a precarious position.
On Opening Day 2019, the Mets took to battle with eight players completely new to the organization and another four players with little to no experience with the 2018 club. Nearly half the roster had been overturned, and nearly all of the players who remained were there on merit. (Once Todd Frazier and Juan Lagares are released, I can remove the word “nearly” from the previous sentence.)
Fast forward to late May, and the Mets are floundering still yet again. The starting pitching has underwhelmed and multiple relievers have spent time on the Injured List. Jed Lowrie hasn’t played a game for the Mets and Yoenis Cespedes is apparently never coming back to Flushing.
Brandon Nimmo has regressed at the plate and Amed Rosario has regressed in the field.
Robinson Cano has neither led by performance or example, and at this point Mets fans are wondering if he will finish the season with more home runs than groundballs dogged (GBDs for the budding baseball analysts in the house).
Most of this is not Mickey Callaway’s fault.
Callaway didn’t sign Lowrie or trade for Cano. Callaway wasn’t part of a minor league system that took seven years to develop Nimmo into a fourth outfielder, or apparently plum forgot to teach Rosario how to bunt and how to play a credible shortstop.
As far as we know, Callaway didn’t even dig the hole that Cespedes ended up destroying his ankle by stepping in. (And really, who believes that ridiculous cover story anyway? Does anyone want to set the over/under on how many days it will take for the truth to come out?)
On Monday, BVW did the right thing and gave Mickey Callaway a vote of confidence. That doesn’t mean that, by the time you read this, Callaway will still be the manager of the New York Mets. If I were a betting man, I would wager that he will not be managing this club on September 1.
And when the ax inevitably falls, it will be hard to stand up for Callaway. He is part of a new breed of managers, one whose primarily qualification appears to be the ability to be “liked” by his players. That is not my kind of manager, and it is my hope that the next skipper has actually run a ballclub or two before being thrust into this clown show.
But firing Mickey Callaway this week would not have been fair to anyone, and it would have done very little to change the Mets’ fortunes. BVW has remade the roster, for better or for worse; his next task may be to decide what qualities he wants in a manager, who fits that profile – and who would actually take this star-crossed job.
2 comments:
Jack, I wish Earl Weaver was around to manage this team. I loved his fire.
Mickey is having a love in. Love is all you need.
He'd be in super deep doo doo if McNeil were not hitting over .330 and Alonso was not slugging over .600. Pete's 36 RBIs have been a huge factor in keeping this team as high as 18th out of 30 in scoring.
If not for those two, the Mets would be...the Marlins this year.
Every time Cano gets up, the fans should chant, "run, Robbie, run!"
Lowrie has been nominated for a coveted Hammy award. He couldn't come, but picking up his award will be:
Cespedes, who promises he will stop using Ranch Dressing on his salads. I guess that horse can't change his spots.
The Mets have increased their use of analytics this year. Most of the new analysts are psychologists.
How good would the Mets be this year with the best manager in baseball? Better.
By all accounts, most of the players "liked" Terry Collins, too. I'd rather have them somewhat in fear of their boss.
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